


To Meet Yourself Going Forward

by jenstraflintlocked



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:53:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21674776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jenstraflintlocked/pseuds/jenstraflintlocked
Summary: Sara and the Legends investigate a mysterious anachronism and find a familiar face
Relationships: Sara Lance/Ava Sharpe
Comments: 23
Kudos: 121





	1. A Familiarish Face In A Strange Place

**Author's Note:**

> So I had this idea and it wouldn't leave me alone so be it ever so heinous I'm writing it

The young girl sat in the police station, her hands cuffed behind her back, trying to wipe away blood from her nose on her shoulder. She could feel her eye swelling up where she’d been knocked over. She allowed herself a moment of satisfaction that she wasn’t the only bleeding person in the joint. But for the most part she was angry. And mostly she was angry at herself because this was precisely what her mother had taught her to avoid since…before she could remember.

Never get into trouble.

Never draw attention to yourself.

Be bland, boring, background.

Or else The Company will find you.

The girl didn’t even know who or what The Company was, only that her mother was convinced if they ever found out about her, The Company would kill her. And her mother. Which was why they lived in a slum flat in some drug dealer district. Why her mother worked for cash, in this bar and that bar, never at home in the evening. Which was why the girl had ended up hanging out with Lucy and her gang. Which had been fine. Mostly that just meant Loitering with Intent on shop corners and the occasional bit of shoplifting to get food. She hadn’t really thought it could do that much harm. The cops hardly ever came into the district anyway. Too much crime for them to deal with so they just turned a blind eye.

Besides, her mother had made sure she knew how to fight, and Lucy and her Gang had filled in any gaps her mother had missed. Which was why several of the cops who’d tried to arrest her were sporting black eyes and bloody noses. So she’d figured she’d be okay. Could handle anything. No harm, no foul, just a little bit of excitement.

Well she wasn’t okay, and there had been harm, and not enough excitement and her mother was going to be more livid than her black eye was going to end up. Lucy and her gang had fled at the first blare of the sirens and she’d been caught, because although she knew how to fight, there was only so much a kid was going to be able to do against three cars full of cops. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t drunk, and she didn’t have any drugs on her. The cops were gonna book her anyway. They hadn’t been interested in Lucy or any of her street louts. Just her. A stab of fear broke through the anger. Perhaps this was it. The Company had found them. Perhaps they were already on their way to arrest her mother. And all because she’d got cabin fever.

Well it was stupid to ask a teenager to stay bottled up in a small apartment day in, day out. Almost as stupid as said teenager ignoring all the warnings so diligently given to her over the years. Thinking about it, she was surprised her mother even let her go to school. Although she’d been registered under a fake name. Even though it was just some crappy back street district school full of people who dropped out or didn’t show up half the time. When she’d first started, she’d been their best student, outshining the others by a mile. But that too, her mother warned, could bring attention. So she’d slowly slid back down the scale, another disappointment that the teachers couldn’t save. Although she hadn’t intended on actually becoming another crime statistic. She slumped in the chair, waiting for the officer who was filling in the paperwork to come back.

“Are you sure you can’t tell us anything more about it, Gideon?” Sara ran her fingers through her hair in exasperation. The Legends were gathered round the main console, trying to figure out just what had been thrown in their path now.

“I am only aware that it is not the standard type of anachronism. There is no-one displaced in time. But the disturbance in the timeline centres on this young girl.” Gideon projected a grainy picture.

“That the best pic you could get hold of?” Zari was surprised at the lack of quality.

“Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any other record of her. The police have yet to photograph her for a mug shot. This is from security footage of a store she was outside of when the police pulled up.”

“She looks kind of familiar, don’t ya think Captain?” Ray peered at it closely.

Sara followed his example. “Well anyway. If this kid is a problem for the timeline, then I guess we’d better investigate. Buckle up guys! And Gideon?”

“Plotting a course already Captain.”

The police officer was back, followed by two grim looking men in suits who filled her with dread. Definitely not a simple arrest for shoplifting then. She got up, but there was nowhere to run. And she couldn’t take on three people with both hands behind her back. In front of her, maybe. Her mother had been thorough in training her. 

“Sit down.” Even their voices were grating and harsh.

She struggled against the cop who was manhandling her back into the chair, trying to shoulder barge him off her. He swore and shoved her down into the chair so forcefully she nearly fell off onto the floor. 

One of the suits sat down at the desk opposite her. The other locked the door and stood in front of it in a typical Unmoveable Guard pose. The cop kept his hand on her shoulder, which irritated her. She hated being touched.

“Now. First things first…” the seated man brought out a suitcase and placed it on the table. As he clicked it open, the door exploded inwards.

Suddenly the room seemed filled with people. And fire. And a strong wind. The young girl squinted against it, trying to see. The cop had released his grasp on her when the door had blown in and she took advantage of that to head butt him and knock him to the floor. But now there was another man grabbing her arm and pointing a definitely not standard issue gun at her.

“Impressive. But c’mon kid.” He growled at her. “Let’s get outta here before the pigs come round.” He dragged her after him, stepping on the cop as he went. “I got her, boss.” He called to one of the women who was fighting one of the suits.

“Okay! Return to the ship. Zari, Ray, make sure there’s no more of these agents about and cover our backs.”

And then they were all out in the streets and running. She stumbled, finding it hard to run with her hands in cuffs and with Not Standard Issue keeping a firm grip on her shoulder. The cuffs were biting into her wrists. She would’ve tried to pick them; hell, just give her a paper clip and some time without being thrown about or interrogated. She was about to ask where they were taking her when a ship appeared out of nowhere. She blinked in surprise as she was shoved up a ramp and through a hatch. It hissed closed behind them and the Boss yelled for someone to get them out of here. There was a subtle vibration but apart from that, nothing. She stared at the metal grid walls and storage trunks. 

“Welcome to the Waverider, kid.” The man growled and picked the lock on her handcuffs. She massaged her wrists for a moment and then he gestured for her to walk forward, follow the other man and woman, presumably Ray and Zari.

“The Waverider? What’s that like? Are you surfers or something?” she asked, trying to blag it out, keep herself cool and calm, like her mother always was. But the ship was just far too impressive, and she didn’t have a single clue what was happening. Hard to keep up bravado in those circumstances.

“Something like that.” The Boss came up behind her and grinned at her. “We got news that you were in some trouble, total big wave wipe-out, and we thought we’d come help.”

The young girl just stared at her. She’d done her best, Loitering With Intent not withstanding to never draw attention to herself. So how the hell did these people get an alert on her? Were they with The Company? Against The Company? Just some complete randos with nothing to do with The Company?

“Hey. Do you know who those men were? The ones in the suits?” Zari asked her. They reached a large room with a console straight out of a sci-fi movie in it and seats and a screen.

She shook her head. “No. I was just hanging out with some people and then the pigs came along and arrested me.”

“And got some hurt for their trouble.” Not Standard Issue grinned at her approvingly. He’d got a bottle of beer from somewhere and was already halfway down it.

“What happened to your friends?” Ray asked.

“Not my friends. They ran away.” She shrugged.

“Pigs didn’t go after them too?” Not Standard Issue growled.

“Nope.” She was beginning to think that Lucy and her gang had been forewarned about it.

“Sounds like a set-up.” Zari pointed out. The young girl had to agree with her on that. She should’ve been wiser than to have fallen for a let’s hang out line. She could imagine her mother going off at her, asking whether she’d taught her nothing.

“Hm.” The Boss nodded in agreement. “Well, let’s get you cleaned up and then I guess you can explain to us who you are.”

“You’re a curious case because Gideon can’t find any record of you, apart from a clearly fake school ID.” Zari explained. That irked the girl. Her mother had paid serious money for her ID.

“What’s your name?” Ray asked her.

She wasn’t sure whether she should trust these people. Her mother had taught her never to trust anyone. But they had rescued her from whatever the men in suits were going to do. And they’d already got her false name, which she hated anyways. She looked around at the curious Zari, the disinterested Not Standard Issue, the penetrating stare of the Boss and the smiling face of Ray. And she decided to give her real one. The one her mother had given her, although she’d told her never to use it. The name she actually liked.

“My name is Ava.”


	2. Ava Too

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which no-one explains anything, least of all the writer

“My name is Ava.”

In the absolute silence that followed, she regretted using her real name, considering they were now all staring at her as if she’d just said some terrible swear word or confessed to being a mass murderer.

“You did say she looked familiar.” Not Standard Issue tilted his beer bottle at Ray.

“Yes, but I mean…she can’t actually be…” Ray stammered.

“Let’s!” the Boss cut him off. “Let’s get her cleaned up. Zari, could you show her the bathroom and then get Gideon to replicate her some clean clothes? Mick, Ray tell the others what’s going on, then meet me back at my office. I’m going to make a call.”

Mick grunted and wandered off down a corridor, a flabbergasted Ray in tow.

“Well. C’mon…Ava.” Zari said her name as if it was a bomb that was about to go off.

Ava followed her, expecting some sort of explanation but Zari didn’t say anything to her as they walked along the corridor except “So! Here’s the bathroom. And when I say ‘the’ I mean ‘the’ as in it’s the only bathroom. I’ll just go get some clothes for you.”

She’d expected an absolute bomb of a bathroom after that revelation, but it was equally as metallic and clinical as the corridor. She sniffed experimentally but couldn’t smell anything other than a faint tint of lemon. Someone at some point had helpfully labelled all the buttons in the shower so that wasn’t hard to figure out. Particularly the DO NOT PRESS one over the red button. She felt better after a hot shower. Her nose had stopped bleeding and she prodded it gently whilst inspecting it in the mirror. She presumed if it was broken there would be more blinding agony. Her eye was going to be quite the shiner tho.

There was a knock at the door, it opened a few inches and clothes were shoved round.

“They should fit. Gideon’s uh…scary good like that.”

“Tell her thanks from me.” Ava took the clothes.

“You’re welcome Miss Ava.” A disembodied voice echoed from somewhere.

Ava froze, her eyes bugging out.

“Oh! Should’ve said. Gideon’s our AI.” Zari said apologetically. “You’ll get used to the whole mildly creepy listening in thing. Probably. Anyways! Hurry up and get dressed and we can get food.”

Fighting cops had given her an appetite and the shock of all whatever this was had merely added to it, so Ava dressed in record time. Her hair was short enough that it would dry on its own, so she combed it and left it as it was. 

Zari took her to a kitchen area which looked more lived in and homey.

“You can replicate anything you want. And when I say anything, I mean _anything._ ” Zari told her.

“Pancakes.” Ava said decidedly and a stack of them appeared.

“Good choice.” Zari nodded warmly, taking a seat by her.

She was halfway through the stack when the doors swished open and Ray, Mick and the Boss walked in followed by…

“Mom?!” she dropped the fork holding the next mouthful of pancake onto the floor. She stood up so fast her chair fell over. She rushed to her, to try and explain everything but…she jogged to a halt. It was her mom. Looked exactly like her. Except she was wearing a suit and her hair was longer. And her mom wouldn’t stare at her as though she was a monster from a horror movie. Zari was looking between the two of them, as if they were some kind of live sitcom.

“Ooookay.” The Boss drawled, breaking the loaded silence. “Clearly we’re going to need a lot more information and explanations. But first off. Introductions. Ava, this is…Ava.” She gestured towards her. “Ava? Likewise.”

“What the _hell_ is going on?” Ava asked at the same time as the other Ava.

“Why do you look like my mom?” Ava continued, seeing Zari silently crack up out the corner of her eye.

“I wouldn’t mind knowing that myself.” The Ava who was not her mom said, staring at the Boss and folding her arms.

“Okay.” The Boss held up her hands placatingly. “So. We got a heads up that there was an anachronism in 2242. Gideon couldn’t tell us anything more than that. It wasn’t someone displaced, it was just events centred on her.” She waved a hand at Ava. “So, we found her in a police station, getting into trouble with some suits. Apart from that? There’s no record of her at all. Even Gideon can’t find anything. So either these suits erased her files…” the Boss trailed off. The thought seemed to hit her personally. “Or she doesn’t technically exist. Either way, it would’ve been really easy for those suits to just make her disappear.” The Boss seemed to be appealing to Not Mom Ava’s humanity.

The mention of the suits and disappearing people shot fear through Ava. “My mom! If those suits were from the Company, what if they went after her too?”

“What’s your mom’s name?” Ray asked kindly, giving her an encouraging smile.

“Ava.”

“Your _mom_ is called Ava too?” Zari burst out laughing. She stopped when she saw The Boss’s expression.

“Not helping Zari!” The Boss rebuked.

“This is gonna get confusing reeeeal quickly.” Mick had replicated himself another bottle of beer.

“It’s already confusing!” Ava shouted. “Who are you guys? Why do you look like my Mom? Why did you bring me here? I don’t know what the hell you’re doing or what an anachronism is or who’s displaced or disappeared but I want to go home. And I want to see my Mom!”

Not Mom Ava shared a look with the Boss.

But it was Ray who asked, “Where would your mom be right now?”

“At work.” Ava tried to calm down. These guys had trashed the cops and the suits. There was no way she was getting out of here if she picked a fight with them too.

“What does she do?” Zari was looking amused again, as if Ava’s answer would be funny.

“She works in bars. I think it’s her night at…” Ava rattled off the address, looking between Ray and Zari.

“Okay. Guess we’re on Ava pick-up duty.” The Boss winked at Not Mom Ava.

“Sara, that could be dangerous. What if they’re from…? We can’t risk…”

Ava stared between Sara and Not Mom Ava, trying to figure out what precisely would go in the gaps in those sentences.

“Tell you what, as soon as Ava’s done with those pancakes, we’ll take her down the medbay for a scan. That should reveal something. And don’t worry. If it is…y’know…then they’d recognise me, right? So if they do, we don’t bring them back. And if they don’t, then clearly…” Sara shrugged.

Not Mom Ava was now looking incredibly unnerved, but she nodded. “You’re right. If they don’t recognise you then there’s no way.”

Sara grinned. “That’s the spirit. Ray! You’ll be with me. I’ll need you small and scouting for suits while Mick and I go for a drink.” She gave Not Mom Ava’s arm a quick squeeze. “Now hurry up with those pancakes kid.”

Not Mom Ava was just as secretive as her mom, it seemed. No-one seemed to be in any hurry to explain anything. But she was interested in what the medbay would reveal so she wolfed down the rest of the pancakes.

The medbay was just as weird and metallic as the rest of the ship but she led down on the reclining chair as instructed. Zari clipped a band around her wrist and told her to relax, which was a little difficult with Not Mom Ava stood that stiffly, glowering at the screen. She somehow managed to tower over Ava even from a distance. Sara was standing near her, glancing at her so often it made her seem like she had a nervous twitch.

The voice of the AI, Gideon echoed through the room. “I can confirm that half of Miss Ava’s DNA is indeed yours, Director Sharpe. The rest is unknown to me.”

Director Sharpe’s jaw twitched.

“Are you sure Gideon?” Sara looked stunned.

“I’m sorry Captain. I will do a scan to see if there are any DNA records in the time period that match the other half.”

“So. Is this the part where you tell me you have a long-lost twin or are you like my mom but from the past.” Ava’s head was buzzing. She wasn’t sure at this point which would be more surprising. She stared at Director Sharpe. If this was her mom from the past, she couldn’t see it. That this ramrod stiff, scowling woman could ever turn into her tattooed mom with gelled up hair and make-up seemed an impossible transition.

“That is not possible.” Director Sharpe spat, apparently agreeing with her. “If I was, we would know who the rest of the DNA would belong to.” She strode out, shrugging off Sara’s comforting hand.

“Ava!” Sara ran after her. “Ava wait…”

Zari winced as the door hissed quietly closed. “Well, that went well. What do you wanna do now? You still hungry? Tired?”

“I’m not a toddler.” Ava glared at Zari.

“Sorry.”

“Are they going to get my mom?”

“Uhh. Probably. Well if you’re not hungry and you’re not tired, wanna play some video games?”

“What’re those?”

“Oh. Oh kid. I am gonna teach you allllll about it.” Zari undid the wristband and hauled her off the chair, dragging Ava after her.

As distraction techniques went, it was a good one, Ava conceded, as she beat Zari three times in a row at a fighter game.

“Yup. You definitely got the Perfect Woman genes going on.” Zari sighed as a lurid Game Over materialised on the screen.

“Huh?”

“Oh it…uh…y’know. The perfect woman should always be able to rock at video games.” Zari almost made it sound convincing. Ava was about to interrogate her more when the sound of people running made them both look round.

Sara flung herself into the room. “Zari! Team Meeting, right now.”

“Why what’s wrong?”

“We were too late. They’d already got her.”


	3. To Arrive Where You Started

Ava’s mouth went dry. She stood up but her legs felt as if they weren’t able to support her. She gritted her teeth through a wave of dizziness.

“They took her?” her voice didn’t sound right. Guilt-ridden thoughts threatened to overwhelm her.

Sara stared at her for a moment. “This mission is going to be too dangerous for you to come on.” She said, as if she’d read Ava’s mind. “But you can come to the meeting and help us plan a rescue mission. Okay?”

It was a fairly quick meeting. Ava realised that whoever these people, the Legends as Sara called them, were experts. Or at least had a lot of experience. Gideon was tracking a car. Ray was dressed in some weird outfit. Mick was drinking a beer.

“Who’s gonna babysit the brat?” He asked, tilting his beer bottle to indicate Ava.

“You volunteering, Mick?” Sara shot back.

“No.”

“Uhh we’re definitely not leaving her with Mick.” Director Sharpe shot down that idea.

“How about you?” Mick pointed at her. “You’re her mom or something.”

“I am NOT…”

“He has a point though Ava. It’ll be a dangerous mission for you to come on too. If they’re after an AVA clone...” Sara stared at Director Sharpe as she made vigorous shushing gestures.

The world was spinning again. “Clone?” There was that strange voice that didn’t belong to her.

Sara winced as she realised what she’d said.

“Good work Sara.” Director Sharpe turned away from the console, grabbed Ava by the arm and dragged her away down a corridor. Ava didn’t bother resisting. She heard Sara shout something about moving out, but it was too far away, and she wasn’t sure she was understanding anything anymore. They’d ended up back in the room where she’d been playing games with Zari. Director Sharpe sat her down on the sofa.

“Drink this.” Ava had replicated a glass of water.

Ava sipped it, grateful for the shock of the cold and the relief on her dry tongue. She coughed. “So. My mom’s a clone?”

“If she looks like me, then yes.” Director Sharpe sighed. “There was a company called AVA. They created from a selection of genes, what they considered to be the perfect woman. And then they created her over and over, programming them for different roles within society.”

“So that’s the company that my mom was always warning me about?”

“Most likely.”

“What’re they going to do with my mom? Why were they after her?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what happened with your mom. But they’re probably going to recondition her. Turn her back into a mindless clone.” Director Sharpe said bitterly.

“So she wouldn’t be my mom anymore?” Ava felt tears welling up in her eyes. Tried to blink them away. Sure, she didn’t see eye to eye with her mom about everything but still. Director Sharpe just stood there, arms folded looking angry and awkward, saying nothing. “So you’re an AVA clone too?”

“Yes.”

That clearly wasn’t the right thing to ask so Ava cast around for something else to talk about. There was so much to try and think about. But forefront out of all the chaos was fear for her mom.

“Are they really gonna be able to rescue her?” The Legends had seemed pretty well oiled and they had amazing tech but Ava couldn’t stop herself worrying. And blaming herself for all of this.

That got a wry smile from the Director. “Sara and her team, they’re good at rescuing people. Eventually. And they don’t roll over on their own.”

“My mom’s not one of them.”

“Uh.” Director Sharpe finally flopped down on the sofa beside her. “They…they’ll see her as one. They tend to adopt people who have a cause or a story.”

“One big happy family.” Ava finished her water.

Director Sharpe scoffed. “A very dysfunctional one.”

“I’ve only ever had my mom.”

“You’re lucky then. I never had anyone, until…”

“Sara?” Ava laughed at the Director’s expression. “It’s kiiiiind of obvious. That’s why you were so mad when Gideon couldn’t match the rest of my DNA right? Cos if half of me is you, then the other half would be hers. But you don’t need to freak out or anything. If…when you meet my mom, you’ll understand. This is definitely a secret twin situation.”

Director Sharpe sat up, straight and stiff. Even stiffer than usual. Her eyes were wide and staring.

“What?” Ava had hoped to cheer her up a little, not freak her out further.

“Ugh! I’m stupid! I’m so stupid!” she surged up off the sofa and walked around the room agitatedly hitting her head with the ball of her hand.

“Uhh…what?”

“Your mom isn’t me from the future. Your mom is another AVA clone.”

“Duh. I thought we all figured that out already.”

“This changes everything. We need to find her.”

“Of course we do. She’s my mom.”

“I need to find out what happened!”

Director Sharpe was already tapping at some kind of bracelet on her wrist.

“Wait where’re you…” Ava lunged forward, toppling through the portal after her. “…going.” She stumbled into Director Sharpe’s back with a small oof. By the time she’d steadied herself, Director Sharpe had fished a torch out and was illuminating the darkness around them. The beam of light picked out over-turned hospital beds, a large broken machine, the shell of a burnt-out building. “What happened here?” Ava whispered, the shock of their surroundings overcoming her amazement at being able to create a portal out of thin air.

“Fire, by the looks.” Director Sharpe crouched down to poke at something on the floor. It looked like some kind of pad, but when she’d blown the dust off the plastic was half melted and the screen was cracked. “A long time ago. Did your mom ever mention anything about how she escaped the company?”

“No. She was pretty close lipped about everything. Hell, I don’t even know who the other half of my DNA belongs to. I always assumed, y’know. Barmaid, One-night stand.” Ava shrugged. “She just taught me how to fight and warned me to be average. Otherwise the Company would find us. Honestly? The past few years I thought they were just some kind of bogieman thing she’d come up with to keep me off the streets.”

Director Sharpe had come to a stop in front of the broken machine and was staring at it. Ava came to stand beside her.

“Is this the place where you and my mom were made?” she ran her fingers over a large half circle that seemed to be part of the machine, almost hoping something would whir into life at her touch and explain everything, clear up all the mysteries that had sprung up in her life in the past few hours. There was merely an odd sparking noise and something small scuttled across the floor, making her jump. She climbed up onto the platform of the machine, looking around her. She was used to rats but that didn’t mean she liked them. Particularly when they ran over her trainers.

“Get down from there!” Director Sharpe snapped at her. She’d materialised a gun from somewhere now as well, so Ava decided not to argue. “Follow me. And stay close. I don’t want to lose…” she stopped speaking so suddenly Ava wondered what was wrong. But Director Sharpe merely strode forward, swiftly checking everything. But anything that could’ve told them something was burnt, or half melted. “Something’s wrong here.”

“What d’you mean?”

“This isn’t something as simple as the company going bust and some arsonist lighting the place up. This is…” the torch beam found large half-melted containers, soot marks exploding from them.

“Destruction.” Ava finished for her.

“Whatever caused this, whatever happened, it was meant to erase everything. Research, files, history. Everything about us.” Director Sharpe said in hushed tones.

Well that would explain why it felt like they were walking through a graveyard, Ava thought to herself as they left the machine behind and walked down a corridor into a series of rooms that led out to an atrium. She’d been half expecting them to come across some macabre scene lying on one of the trolley beds. She was beginning to lose her nerve now, had to clench her hands to stop them trembling, try and control her breathing. Her mom had tried her best to keep her safe from the Company and now she was right in the middle of it. And it’d been completely gutted.

“Hey. Director Sharpe?” her voice came out strangled and high-pitched.

“What is it?” Director Sharpe turned around and blinded Ava. She shielded her eyes until the torch was dropped.

“Shouldn’t we be going back to the Waverider round about now? I mean, you’re a clone walking around the factory you were made in, and there’s scary men out to get people who look like you. I’m just saying it’s probably not the best idea to stay here too long.”

Director Sharpe looked thoughtful, continuing to look around. “I thought there might be answers here but…”

“Yeah, it looks pretty dead-end to me on the answers front. So let’s get outta here.” Ava saw Director Sharpe’s hesitation, the urge for an explanation overriding what was to Ava just common sense. She decided to try a different tactic. “I mean, Sara might be back already. With my mom. What’re they gonna say if, or more likely when Gideon rats us out? She can track people right? Probably knows exactly where we are.”

Director Sharpe grimaced at the prospect. “You make a good point.” She glanced over her shoulder, as if expecting Sara to materialise behind her and start shouting.

“Yep.” Ava agreed. But she realised she’d lost Director Sharpe’s attention. She was staring at a flicker of light coming from the atrium in front of them.

Suddenly, the rest of the lighting flickered on, illuminating a haggard looking woman in a prison uniform, staring at them both with her jaw dropped.

“Ava?” she gasped. She stumbled forward, pushed by one of the men in suits that had flooded through the entrance to the building, and who were now pointing guns at Ava and Director Sharpe.


	4. The Mirror Of The Form

“Amazing.” One of the men in suits stepped forward. “Here we were, thinking we’d lost our AVA clone and would have to send out ransom notes and wait. Yet we return to base and lo! Another one is waiting for us. Along with the child as an extra hostage.” His eyes settled on Ava.

Director Sharpe stepped in front of Ava, still holding up her gun.

“None of that now.” The man gestured and the two men flanking the prisoner raised their guns to her head. “Put it down.”

Director Sharpe scowled but she lowered her gun, placed it on the floor and raised her hands in surrender.

“Smart move.” The man commended her.

The prisoner was now staring at Ava, tears in her eyes. Ava wondered who the hell she was, what the hell had happened between her mom and the Company, and whether it was a result of, or the cause of, the torched factory. For the second time that evening, her hands were cuffed together. She was marched over to join the prisoner who mouthed “sorry”. Director Sharpe was left stood there, her hands in the air, glowering at the man in front of her.

“I already know your name of course. My name is Barton. My father was the one who built this factory. So, in a way, I own you. I don’t know how _you_ escaped but it doesn’t matter. We were going to be happy with a reject Domestic model, but a pristine Combat model? Much better for our purposes.” Barton walked smartly up to Ava, checking her over as if she were a piece of merchandise. “Might need a little tweaking. You surrender too easily. And you protect worthless people. But we can work on that later. Now. Take off your jacket and roll up your sleeves. Or we can do it for you.” He added, as if expecting Sharpe to protest. Ava finally understood the phrase, ‘glaring daggers’ and ‘if looks could kill’. And yet despite the snarl on her face, Director Sharpe was calm as she obeyed the orders. He motioned two more suits to bring Sharpe’s hands down and hold her.

Ava was struck by how indomitable Director Sharpe looked. She didn’t look at Barton, but stared straight ahead, even when they put a cuff around her arm and tapped a vein, didn’t even flinch when they inserted a needle and drew a vial of her blood. Ava glanced around the atrium and then at the other woman, who was now staring at her really intently. She swallowed, an inkling of just who this woman was tickling the back of her brain. The way she’d called out Ava. The way she was being held as a hostage too. Barton had said ransom. It wouldn’t make sense if they’d just grabbed a random person. But the intense stare was creeping her out. She looked away quickly, wondering where her mom was. She hoped back on the Waverider. Clearly Sara and her team had rescued her, if these guys had come back here empty handed. Maybe Gideon was telling them right now where Director Sharpe had gone, perhaps any minute now there’d be a vengeful group of Legends, bursting in and rescuing them, and berating Director Sharpe for going off half-cocked. She imagined Sara would be mad at Director Sharpe. But not as mad as she was going to be at Barton and his thugs.

They were still drawing vials of blood, placing them in a padded suitcase. Ava was growing twitchy, her mind racing once more. She felt sick as she figured out what Barton was planning to do. The woman beside Ava had closed her eyes and was now crying silently, the tears dripping down onto her prison suit. There was a name label on it, Ava realised it. She frowned in disbelief, snorting with laughter despite the situation. It read “Blunt”. If this woman was who Ava thought she was…

Her mind was jolted from its train of thought by Barton suddenly speaking.

“Right. That should be enough. Now that we’ve got what we wanted; I can’t really foresee a use for you. All the old equipment is broken, so we can’t recondition you or wipe your memories. But we can’t just let you go either.”

Ava rolled her eyes at such an obvious villain speech. The very audible scoff from Director Sharpe indicated she shared Ava’s feelings.

“Well I mean you could. It might be your best option.” A voice seemed to come from nowhere.

Ava almost cricked her neck, looking around so quickly. It was Ray’s voice she was sure of it. The men in suits were following her example. Pointing their guns anywhere except at her and the other prisoner. She caught Director Sharpe’s eyes, got a very small nod and took that as her cue to bash one of the men over the head with her cuffed hands. Idiots had cuffed her hands in front of her. She dropped down onto her hands, spinning her legs round and knocking another man over, promising to apologise to her mom for all the whining she’d done about the training. She grabbed his gun, shot wildly at another man, hitting him in the leg. He dropped to his knees with a cry of pain, cut short as Ava ran and stomped him in the head. She looked up to find Director Sharpe had already taken out the two men either side of her and Barton. She saw what looked like a metal robot, taking out the other two with a blast of energy.

“Hey Ava. Hey Ava.” It waved at Director Sharpe and then turned and waved at her. She saw Ray’s face beneath some kind of face shield.

“Hey Ray.” She grinned. “Good timing.”

There was a crash behind her, and she saw Sara and Mick striding through the now very unlocked door with Zari beside them, her hands raised. Sara was scowling and Ava winced in sympathy as she strode up to Director Sharpe.

“What the hell were you thinking Ava? We just got done rescuing one Ava and we come back to find Gideon informing us we have another two to rescue?!”

Director Sharpe ignored her. She ripped off the cuff and rolled her sleeves back down. “Hey Mick? Can I ask a favour?” She asked as she retrieved her jacket.

Both Sara and Mick looked at her in stunned silence. Director Sharpe kicked the padded suitcase over. “Destroy that for me?”

Sara merely stared but Mick grinned, and let rip with his gun, engulfing it in a beam of fire until it was nothing but ash.

The look on Sara’s face softened. “C’mon. Let’s get you all back to the Waverider. I get the feeling there is a _lot_ of explaining to do. On all sides.” She glanced at Ava’s fellow hostage as if noticing her for the first time.

“She’s coming with us.” Ava said quickly.

Sara rolled her eyes. Director Sharpe opened a portal directly into the Waverider’s lounge where Ava’s mom was waiting for them.

The moment she saw Ava she leapt up and hugged her so tightly Ava thought one of her ribs would crack.

“Arghh. Mom. Are you okay?” Ava was equally anxious to check her mom was unhurt, and importantly, unstabbed by needles.

“I’m fine. These guys…” Ava’s mom gestured to the Legends and then saw the latest addition to the crew.

She’d been stood there, watching Ava and her mom hug, whilst Mick divested her of her handcuffs. Ava stepped away as her suspicions were confirmed in the way that Ava and the woman had locked eyes. She edged her way round to Mick to get her handcuffs off, waiting for an explosion or crying or…something. The continued silence unnerved her. None of the Legends were saying anything either.

“Is your name really ‘Blunt’?” Zari was the surprise person who broke it.

“Um. Yes. Annabelle Blunt.” Annabelle nodded, startled at the question.

“And you are presumably…” Ray took over the random interrogation.

“She’s my wife.” Ava’s mom whispered hoarsely.

Mick let out a loud Ha of laughter. Sara was trying very hard not to look amused. Ava felt her pain, she thought she might’ve dislocated her jaw from not laughing, partly because the situation was so very not funny but mostly because Director Sharpe’s expression threatened death.

“What’s so funny?” Annabelle asked, mystified by this bizarre reaction.

Ray cleared his throat nervously, glancing at Director Sharpe. “Well. You see. This is.” He coughed again. “Ava Sharpe. And if you’re uh…this Ava’s wife then that would make her, and I suppose that Ava as well…”

“I’m so confused right now. Can we give you all codenames?” Zari asked.

“No.” Director Sharpe said immediately.

“Okay so not you. But can you guys be like Mom Ava and Baby Ava? Or Mrs Blunt and Punk Blunt? Or…”

“I’m kinda liking Punk Blunt.” Ava nodded appreciatively.

“Ava!”

Ava winced. She’d forgotten that her mom was still going to be mad. She’d liked the thirty seconds of cool she’d had, fighting bad guys and being on a ship with Legends. Suddenly she felt all of her fifteen years old again. At least her mom sounded more like her usual self. Ava wasn’t used to her mom being shaken up. Come to think of it, she was actually feeling pretty shaky herself. There’d been cops and arrests and scary people in suits and long-lost other mothers and rescues. And zero explanations.

“Hey. Punk Blunt looks like she needs a drink.” Mick grunted.

“She’s not the only one.” Several people muttered. Ava thought she heard Director Sharpe’s voice in the quiet chorus.

“Okay!” Sara held up a hand, halting any possible descent into chaos. “Ray, can you take Anna to the medbay? Give her a check over. Mrs Blunt, you can go with her if you like. Legends, good work. Go take five. Meet back here in half an hour for explanations.” Sara turned to Ava. “Kid, take the couch and take a nap. Ms Sharpe?”

Sara didn’t say anything more, but Ava got the feeling as she watched the two of them leave that even if the rest of them had to wait half an hour, there were some private explanations going to be happening right now. Probably in the form of arguments. Her curiosity and her exhaustion had an argument of their own and curiosity lost. There would be explanations, hopefully without too much shouting, in half an hour. She could sleep til then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to use the surname Blunt for obvious reasons. And then I remembered that Ada Lovelace had a daughter called Anne (or Annabelle) Blunt (as in The Lady Blunt Stradivarius) So I was like boom! Done. Named.


	5. The Past Is Another Country

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back story!

The scientist frowned in concentration at the data on her screen. But no matter how much she over-analysed, in case it was her imagination, it remained the same. Her heart hammered in her chest. It had finally happened. She’d been waiting for this ever since she’d joined the company as an undercover agent.

A clone had rejected the conditioning.

Ever since the first one had happened the number had slowly been increasing. She hadn’t been able to find anything out about the first one, except the account number it had been sold to. It was a prolific account. The reject had been the twelfth one that had been credited to it. And the last. All other records had been destroyed. The scientist in charge had been given early retirement or, as she figured, given the shove for the mistake. But it hadn’t changed the fact that the next year there had been another one. And then year after that, two more. They’d started keeping official records by that point, in case of any court cases. For a decade, the number had been increasing. And now? This was apparently the fourth one this year.

She ran her fingers through her hair, copying the files to her personal drive and making hasty handwritten notes. This proved her group’s theory. That the AVAs, despite being essentially 3D printed clones of a human that didn’t actually exist, were still people. Still individuals. And her group was proof that the company was struggling to keep a lid on that. There had already been protests about AVAs stealing jobs, counter-protests that they were people and should be treated as such, given rights. But most of those had fizzled out, under the company’s reassurances. The AVAs had brought stability after all; no-one was particularly interested in disrupting that for long. But her group had never believed the company. AVA clones might be a perfectly formed Frankenstein’s monster, made from the best of humanity, but the monster in that story had still been human, still had desires, emotions. It wasn’t right to over-write that. To pretend that their essential humanity could be erased. And on her computer screen was the data that proved it. 

And on the hospital trolley in those awful blue scrubs sat the absolute proof, which had been staring at her intently for the last hour as she’d studied the screen.

“What is wrong?” the AVA asked her curiously, as she sat back in her chair and swivelled it to face the clone.

The scientist smiled bitterly. The reject wasn’t half as belligerent as some of the conditioned clones she’d talked to. Probably because it was only meant to be a Domestic AVA in the first place, even if the conditioning had worked. The AVA looked almost lost. She felt bad for telling the clone, but there wasn’t much else she could do. Not until she could send this data to her group. And lying left a bad taste in her mouth. “The conditioning failed. You rejected it.”

“I am a failure. What will happen to me?” the AVA sounded nervous now.

“You’ll be destroyed. Same as the others.” The scientist sighed. “They won’t bother trying to re-condition you. If it failed the first time, there would be no point.”

“I don’t want to be destroyed!” now she was afraid.

“Well we can’t sell you, so the company will see you as useless.”

“I could become useful?” she sounded hopeful.

The scientist sat forward in her chair. The company had never bothered keeping a reject clone around for long enough to observe what they were like. And this was the first one the scientist had seen. It wasn’t freaking out, or going insane, or anything that the other scientists had predicted would happen, to justify the rejects being destroyed. This proved her group’s theory even further.

“I could become useful to you! I could work as your assistant. I have watched you work. It seems very strenuous. You sigh a lot. And you look tired.” The AVA was staring at her pleadingly.

And in that moment, the scientist realised, she could not allow the AVA to be destroyed. Beyond a doubt, this was a human being. She’d always believed it, but it had been an abstract concept. When she’d met the conditioned clones, it was difficult to see anything in them but an empty smoothness. The conditioning was nothing short of brainwashing. She fully realised that now. Her mind raced, trying to figure out a way to save the AVA. Destroying files might not work. It would be too obvious in any case that the AVA was different. Well, first and foremost, she had to get the AVA out of the factory.

“Lie down. Quick. Under the sheet.” She pushed the AVA back down as she spoke, pulling the sheet over her head. She leaned close and whispered “I’m going to take you as if I’m disposing of the body. You can hide in the chute. When my shift finishes, I’ll come get you and take you home with me. Okay? And we’ll figure things out from there.”

Ava had waited five long hours in the chute, cold in her blue hospital clothes. It had felt like eternity. The longest time in her life. Which it was. She was only about seven hours old. But the scientist had come for her. Her hands had been shaking as she’d given Ava the clothes of a domestic AVA. They’d walked straight past security; the guards had merely waved the scientist through, barely even looking up, when she told them she was taking an AVA out for personal delivery. The drive back to the scientist’s rooms had been tense and quiet. She’d had to change into another set of clothes in order to sneak up to the apartment.

The scientist told Ava her name was Annabelle. She told Ava she could choose a new name for herself. But Ava liked Ava, so Ava she remained. The apartment Annabelle lived in was small and there were often other people who turned up and they held heated discussions and meetings. Annabelle always told her to hide in the bedroom. For the first few weeks, Annabelle watched her closely, as if waiting for something to happen. But Ava was merely happy, and relieved not to have been destroyed. As per Ava’s suggestion, they worked on Annabelle’s research together in the evenings, and Ava learnt how she’d been created, and the thousands of “sisters” she had, including the other Avas who had rejected the conditioning. She felt intense sorrow at their destruction. Wondered often what had happened to the Ava reject who had been sold. That the person or company who had brought her had gone through so many AVA clones left her with little hope that she was alive.

She could leave the apartment, but only disguised as a proper AVA. The conditioning having failed, she knew nothing a Domestic AVA should. But Annabelle taught her how to cook, how to clean. And Ava was a quick learner. But even with the correct uniform, it was difficult. She had to make sure there was no-one around first, watching hacked feeds from the building’s security. And afterwards Annabelle would create loops in the footage, so that any sign of Ava was erased, if anyone came looking.

Ava knew what was at stake, even without Annabelle telling her. “If the Company ever found out about you? They would destroy you. Unless we can prove to the world that AVAs are humans, that you can function perfectly well without conditioning.”

Unfortunately, for all their research, they were unable to find a common link, a common reason as to why conditioning failed. Every clone was identical, down to its DNA. There was no childhood, no different experiences. They were printed, dressed and laid on trolleys and then conditioned via tablets. The moment that was complete, they were fully functional. There should’ve been no room for error, for diversity.

The meetings with Annabelle’s group became less frequent. Without the knowledge of how, there was nothing to base anything off. Their evenings became just time spent together, watching movies, playing games, cooking meals. Occasionally they would sneak out in the middle of the night and walk together through the city. Even Annabelle’s job became less of a cover and more of a job. There were no more clones that rejected the conditioning, at least in her department. She heard of two others, but they were clones designed for Security or Guards and to oversee the conditioning of those required a level of clearance she didn’t have.

Ava once asked her whether it was weird, working with dozens of AVAs all day and then coming home to her, who looked identical. Annabelle had laughed, saying she wasn’t the same. She was unique. Her own self. She couldn’t really compare Ava to a conditioned clone. “You’re proof that miracles can happen.”

Ava had been living with Annabelle for just over a year when she confessed her feelings. She’d been struggling with them for a while, unsure if she was even really feeling them, whether she was capable of it. But it was painful to keep them in, so despite the fact it could’ve ruined everything, could’ve resulted in her being abandoned, destroyed, Ava decided to tell her. 

“I love you.” Her voice was calm and disguised her fear, fear of loss, fear of rejection…fear of destruction.

Annabelle had been shocked. Ava knew why. She had read the files. She knew that even without the conditioning, she was genetically designed to be cool and calm, not given to excessive emotions or anxiety. But Annabelle had still whispered back, with tears in her eyes “I love you too.”

They’d talked long into the night, curled up together on the sofa. Annabelle had been struggling too, not wishing to force her emotions on someone who didn’t have anywhere else to go, on someone who was dependent on her. And she’d been afraid that Ava might not be able to return her feelings, that the genetic programming would’ve prevented that.

They couldn’t get married. AVAs didn’t have the right and anyway legally, Ava didn’t even exist. But they had a small ceremony in their apartment. A friend that Annabelle had trusted enough to tell had officiated it. He was the only one aware of what Annabelle had done and was sworn to secrecy. Their lives had to become even more secretive. Annabelle’s old group was becoming more active, the data from Ava’s rejection of the conditioning had been leaked, despite there being no conclusive evidence to the cause. There were stirrings of it becoming a full-blown movement. But Ava and Annabelle were still happy together. Ava was even hopeful that they would be able to stop the conditioning, free the remaining AVAs that were still being created.

And then one day, Annabelle had come home with an idea. They’d been talking about children and Ava had found the idea intriguing. AVAs were genetically coded to be infertile but she wondered whether she could still be a mother. Annabelle had gone into work the next day and secretly spliced the Ava genes with her own. She was going to adjust the printer, to print a child. A baby. It was the second time Ava had seen Annabelle terrified. If she was caught…

Ava had never prayed before, not really understanding the concept, but now her feelings pulled from her a strange urge to offer up anything she could give to anyone who was out there, if it worked. 

Someone must’ve listened or perhaps it was just daring that paid off. The resulting child was registered as Annabelle’s daughter. Annabelle concocted a made-up story of a one-night stand, a pregnancy that remained hidden until the last moment, no known father to be registered on the birth certificate. Well that was entirely correct. They’d giggled about that. Ava wanted her to be called Ava but that was impossible, legally. The name on the birth certificate was Annabelle’s mother’s name. But they never called the baby girl that.

And for a few months, they lived happily together.

But the movement was becoming larger, as the news spread of the murder of the AVA clones who’d rejected their conditioning. The company was facing protests, camped outside their gates. There were calls for the entire factory to be shut down, for the government funding to stop.

The friend who had married them came stumbling into the apartment one night, gasping for breath and covered in soot. The factory had been set fire to and every single AVA there had been burnt. He hadn’t been able to stop it. The Company was in tatters. The owner had fled. The government was trying to deny all knowledge.

Ava had held Annabelle as she’d cried. She felt too shocked to cry herself. The devastation was too great. She’d always hoped one day that Annabelle’s research would help free her sisters and that hope was now literally ash. As the days passed the movement grew quickly and spread. The previous rhetoric about AVAs stealing jobs returned. They were rounded up, arrested…and destroyed.

That was when Annabelle had decided they had to leave the country. If anyone found Ava, they’d kill her. It was impossible to think in the current climate that they’d listen, would accept Ava as a person. But, not being a person, Ava couldn’t have a passport. Even their child didn’t have one. Forgeries were too easy to detect. They were stranded. Annabelle’s previous links to her group had been cut long ago, when they’d started calling for the destruction…the murder of the AVA clones. She was no longer trusted. The only person who was willing to help them was the friend who’d married them. He got them to a boat, people smugglers promising to get people out of the country. It had been decided that Ava would take their child and go. And Annabelle would fly out legally and join them.

But the boat had sunk, and they’d been washed up on a beach, Ava clinging to her child, grateful for the strength the perfect genes had given her. She had no idea where they were, only that they must not be found, must not be identified. Ava had already altered her appearance for the trip, a drastic haircut and dye job, a few bits of dramatic make-up. She felt relatively safe. There were no longer any AVAs. They wouldn’t be expecting a clone out of the uniform of their profession.

All the people washed up on the beach were rounded up and taken to a strange city where they were processed. Because Ava had a child, she’d been given a room to live in, in a hostel, with strict instructions to remain there, her movements logged, every time she went in or out. In a way, that was the easy part. It was not too dissimilar to how she’d lived all her life. The hard part was the fear. Ava was terrified that someone or something would identify her. She’d refused to give her name, had used another name for her daughter, terrified that even the fake name they’d registered her under could be used to trace her. She pretended to not understand the language, even though it was English. She suspected she was still in America, somewhere. But her child needed a home, and help, so she stayed in the room for two years, until her child was a toddler. Until she’d given up all hope of Annabelle being able to track her down. She’d been able to investigate the city, had found more lawless quarters. Even found a job, bar work, cash in hand. There was a flat above the owner said she could move into.

She had brought her daughter up to live in constant vigilance. No friends, nothing attention drawing. Just another slum-dwelling single mother barmaid and her child. But she’d always been on the look-out for a knowing glance, anyone who stared too long. She’d never relaxed, not once in the fifteen years they’d been living there. She’d realised that she never had, not even when she’d been happy and living with Annabelle. She’d always been hidden away, always scared. And she knew that if they were untraceable, unnoticeable, then Annabelle would never find them either. And she did not have the resources to look for Annabelle without drawing attention to herself. She’d always dreamed that one day it would’ve been long enough, distant enough that she’d be able to. That dream had been shattered when she’d seen the men in suits walk into her bar. And yet so strange was life, that it was that very event that had caused her to end up sat here, on this strange ship, re-united with her wife once more, helping her to tell their story. 


End file.
